After the session, Tanaka said his elbow felt fine. He said he was a "little bit rusty" throwing his splitter, but expressed no concern that the pitch won't continue to work as well as it had before the injury once he returns.

... "I thought it was good, for the time off he's had," Rothschild said of Tanaka's stamina. "It wasn't where it was before he got hurt, but I didn't expect it to be. This is another step in a progression, so we'll just keep going with it."

... "The big thing is that he doesn't have pain and that the ball's coming out OK," Girardi said. "The guys were talking about how hard it was to pick up the split and the arm motion. It's a good sign because that means he's not babying it. That's encouraging."

... "Everything looked normal. I think he threw all the pitches that he has," Wheeler said. "It felt like a spring training vibe. But it's live BP. This is totally different from the game. To me, he looked great. We'll see how he feels."

... Washington said before Friday's game against the Royals that he wasn't sure when and whether Darvish would have a bullpen outing, which would kick-start Darvish's return from the DL. The Rangers tentatively have Miles Mikolas scheduled to pitch in the first game of a three-game series that begins Monday at Seattle, the first day Darvish is eligible to return.

However, Darvish will remain on the DL when he's eligible to return on Aug. 25, and could miss the entire 10-day road trip that starts Monday in Seattle.